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1.Im just curious for those who live in NC if someone where to mug you on the streets are you able to shoot them in defense of your property or possibility of them kicking your ass.

2. If some one was attempting to car jack you may you shoot them.

3. If someone has a bit of road rage and decides to run you off the road you pull over to let him go on ahead so you can get away from him and he decides to slam on breaks and gets out of his car and comes up to you with say a weapon of sorts tire iron, bat, gun ect and starts insinuating that he is bout to beat your ass can you shoot him.

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typically in NC in my understanding, you have to have to be fearing for your life and he has to be a visible threat to your life, then you may pull the trigger, if he is empty handed; you have to wait till he is strangling you before you can pull your gun out and shoot.. Am I right guys? I think that's accurate.

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burninsteeda04 wrote:

So basically if some guy way bigger than me is beating my ass i cant shoot him till im like near death

The standard in pretty much every state, AFAIK, is that if you have a reasonable fear that you're going to be killed or seriously injured (broken bones, severe lacerations, etc.) then you have the right to defend yourself with deadly force.

In some states you have a duty to retreat, if you can, but not all. It also often varies depending on whether you're at home or on the street. I don't know about NC.

If the attacker is weaker or about the same as you physically, and you shoot, you may be in trouble because the prosecutor can argue that you could have defended yourself effectively without the gun. If he's bigger than you, armed with a deadly weapon or has some other advantage (e.g. martial arts training) that gives you a reasonable fear, you can shoot. The greater the disparity in force, the better your chance of either not getting charged or getting acquitted if you are charged.

Shooting someone is legally risky; by pulling the trigger you're taking a chance of landing youself in jail, or of having the BG's family take everything you own in a wrongful death suit. The clearer it is that you needed to defend yourself, the less trouble you'll have.

Yes, this sucks. In a self-defense situation you have a split second to make a life or death decision. If you hesitate, you may die. If you shoot when you don't have to, the rest of your life may be ruined. After the fact, of course, your decision will be analyzed in excruciating detail by people who have days to think it over.

Bottom line is that you just have to do the best you can. If you fear for your life, shoot and let the chips fall where they may. "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by six" and all that. If you're not really afraid, just pissed off, don't shoot.

If you've taken a CCW class, your instructor should have covered use of force in great detail. If you haven't taken a class, do.

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That's about right. Repeated hits to vital areas and choking are pretty much the only reason that deadly force can be used on a person without a weapon. The person doesn't necesarily have to be bigger then you but you have to be in fear of murder, rape or great bodily harm and a person of ordinary firmness, aka jury of your peers, would have to agree with you. Also, you have a duty to retreat unless you or another person is in imminent danger of murder, rape or great bodily harm. If you do use deadly force in defense of another you also better be sure that thevictim did not provoke the attack and is blameless in the assault. Pretty much, if you use deadly force outside of your own house it better be on an armedassailant or an active shooter. Even in your own house, the same rules applyif thebad guy is actually inside your house. The only shoot first law thatNorth Carolina has is while the bad guy is gaining access to your house and is in the process of going througha door and window. I recommend even if you can't get your concealed handgun permit just yet that you take the CHP course and watch the video that shows acceptable use of deadly force before you carry. The certificate that they give you is good for either 6 months or a year from when you take the course.

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yeh i will be taking my ccw class at the end of may. the big issue is i open carry im 20 and so i really want to have a good understanding, I hope i never have to use my gun other than on paper or hunting. I really hope that nc gets a castle doctrine. Anyways what about someone trying to obtain access to your car. is that justifiable use of deadly force if they present a weapon and your in traffic cant get out of harms way.

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He doesn't know that you have a gun and him coming at you with a tire iron isn't exactly to help you change your spare...so he IS threatening your life.

I would draw on him. If he advances, he now knows the odds and IS TRYING TO KILL YOU! PERIOD. Click-Bang-Thud. It's wholly unreasonable to expect me to get out of the car, open the trunk and get my OWN tire iron, thus evening the odds. Since he obviously agrees with a fight being one sided, he won't mind me having a gun!

Many states have laws where it is NOT brandishing if you draw your weapon to prevent such a crime. Not sure about NC.

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IANAL and I live in Nevada. Here's how I would try to justify drawing my firearm if someone without any weapons tries to attack me, and I do have a weapon.

It is unreasonable to think I could safely defend myself from the attacker in any hand-to-hand confrontation, and also maintain safe control of my firearm so that my attacker does not get it away from me during the struggle.

I would argue that the weapon I was defending against was my own, because once the attacker goes hands on, the weapon could be taken from me.

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timf343 wrote:

It is unreasonable to think I could safely defend myself from the attacker in any hand-to-hand confrontation, and also maintain safe control of my firearm so that my attacker does not get it away from me during the struggle.

This is exactly the reason I carry OC spray, so that I have a less-lethal tool to defend against an unarmed assailant getting my weapon.

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i hope that by showing the gun they wouldnt advance nymore. but sum situations r diffrent. what would you do if sum one mugged you said give me your money mf i got n insinuates he has a weapon but doesnt show it. wat to do

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The main thing to do would be to face them and retreat backwards. If you get to the point that you are no longer able to retreat and the assailent said that he had aweapon or actually draws the weapon, I don't think that anyone would blame you for using deadly force. The main jist of the law states that a person of ordinary firmness believes they are in danger of murder, rape or great bodily harm. It all depends on the situation. No one can tell you the right thing to do for every concievable situation. If you decide that you have to use deadly force the consequences for your actions are entirely on your shoulders. When you decide to carry a firearm, you are taking that risk and you must be willing to accept the consequences. Someonewho decides to usedeadly force has a split second to make a decision and the police and courts have as much time as they need to tearthat decisionapart.

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as many of you may well know...but haven't said yet, the two things your attacker has to have before you shoot is abillity and oportunity, if you can articulate those 2 things and show you made an attempt to retreat....you do not have to retreat at all costs just make a reasonable attempt......then you are good my friend. if you are being shot at you may return fire from your position if possible.......the most important thing is being able to articulate in words and on paper the reason you feared for your (or someone elses) life. I would also suggest a somewhat decent relationship with a lawyer....not necessary but it helps, you never know when you need to beat that speeding ticket or show up in your local county lockup for that stupid GATTTOTP charge that really needs to be revised.